So I found myself with a second copy of Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson — who is one of my favorite contemporary YA authors (seriously go read Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour and Second Chance Summer) — and I figured, “why not share the love for one of my 2014 most anticipated novels with my readers???” Seriously guys. If you are not on the Morgan Matson train at this point…come aboard please! Her books are amazing and just so full of life and beauty and raw human emotions. GAH. I can’t even explain what her books do to me. And out of ALLLLL my favorite authors, I’ve seriously met most of my faves, she is the ONE I have NOT yet met and it kills me because I want to hug her for writing these books that just ME kind of books that really impact me.

How cute are the sunglasses they put in with the package?? You should check out the #bffchallenge Simon Teen & Morgan Matson are doing on Instagram each month!

I started reading it yesterday and it is FABULOUS already. Since it largely revolves around friendship + a list Emily’s bff, who has mysteriously disappeared, leaves her to help her be brave and get out of her shell, I figured I’d talk about a few of my favorite bffs in literature and tv before we get to the giveaway.

In Books:

Aria & Roar from the Under The Never Sky series by Veronica Rossi: I’d also throw Perry & Roar in here but I just really loved Aria and Roar’s friendship throughout the whole series. Plus, I always wish for more platonic female/male friendships and this one is PERFECT.

Liesel & Rudy from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: This is one of my favorite books and GOD this friendship is just one of my favorites ever. The wonderfulness of a young friendship and it was so sweet and beautiful amidst the awfulness going on in the story.

Parker and Kat from Golden by Jessi Kirby: If anything, their friendship reminds me a little of the one going on here in Since You’ve Been Gone! Kat is the more outgoing and free spirited one and Parker is the one who could use some nudging to take chance and be wild and free! I thought they were solid and I loved them! Also, that book….GORGEOUS.

Cath & Reagan from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: I always kind of love bff stories that start out maybe with not-so instaBFF vibes and I loved watching these two become friends.

From TV:

Christina and Meredith from Grey’s Anatomy: TWISTED SISTERS FOR LIFE. I love the way they are together and how truly they GET each other and love each other — flaws, messiness and all! I love that they are each other’s person and it’s truly been one of the most touching friendships I’ve ever watched because they so strangely fit together and I just want a bff like that.

Wallace & Veronica from Veronica Mars: I just always loved these two from the moment V saved him from the flagpole. They did an awful lot of saving each other’s asses, sleuthing but also being really good friends to each other and opening up. Some of my favorite vulnerable V moments happened with Wallace.

I also have two GROUPS of friends I loved:

1. Golden Girls — my mom and I used to watch this all the time together and when I’m an old lady I want to have friends as bitchin as them.

2. Friends — oh the Friends gang. They are just my favorite to watch ever.

Giveaway

So let’s get down to the giveaway!

US & Canada ONLY — sorry guys. Still no full time job so no can do. I promise an excellent international giveaway when the job fairy sees fit.

Emily is about to take some risks and have the most unexpected summer ever in this new novel from the bestselling author of Second Chance Summer and Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour.Before Sloane, Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, and she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—someone who yanks you out of your shell. But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list with thirteen bizarre tasks that Emily would never try. But what if they can lead her to Sloane? Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough. Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a stranger? Wait…what? Getting through Sloane’s list will mean a lot of firsts, and with a whole summer ahead of her—and with the unexpected help of the handsome Frank Porter—who knows what she’ll find. Go Skinny Dipping? Um…

Who are some of your fave BFFs in books and tv?? I’m always looking for great friendship stories or dynamics within a story!

Catalog Creepin’ is a feature here at The Perpetual Page-Turner that was inspired by the “Books to Pine For” feature over at Kristi’s blog and really fueled by my obsession with scouring catalogs from my favorite publishers to see what upcoming books I should be adding to my already-ready-to-topple-over To Be Read list. Each Catalog Creepin’ post will spotlight a different catalog from my favorite publishers and their imprints. I won’t be covering all publishers — just my personal favorites whether they be the big honchos or smaller publishing houses.

AHHH Simon & Schuster never fails to get me all giddy. The Summer 2014 catalog is AWESOME. MORGAN MATSON??! SARAH OCKLER?? Two authors I love so much!! That would have made me alone just write a whole post!

Unfortunately, the children’s catalog was the only one up for Summer 2014 and I was just TOO excited to wait for them to post the adult catalog so they could be together in. I’ll do it separately when it comes out!

Ok, if you know me you know that this is one of my most anticipated reads of 2014!! I loved Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour and Second Chance Summer so this should be NO surprise. It sounds AMAZING. AHH. Emily has always been more reserved but has a wild best friend named Sloane who always gets her out of her comfort zone. When Sloane suddenly disappears, Emily finds a to-do list of random things –things she would NEVER do– for her to do written by Sloane.

This summer I loved The Book of Broken Hearts and really enjoyed Twenty Boy Summer when I read it. This one sounds soooo good. The MC is caught in quite the scandal when her bff’s boyfriend, whom she’s had a crush on since forever, kisses her when they, with her best friend’s permission, go to prom together because she’s sick. Before she can tell her the truth, somebody hacks into her Facebook and posts pictures that tell all.

Tori already finds herself connected to a cyberbullying suicide at the moment and one night she receives a random call from a guy wanting to talk and asks her to give him one good reason not to kill himself putting his life in her hands.

There Will Come A Time by Carrie Arcos (May 6, 2014 – Simon Pulse- Add To Goodreads)

Mark’s twin sister is killed in a car accident and he is drowning in grief. His sister’s best friend tries to help him and convinces him to do the bucket list from her journal which contains things that makes him feel like he didn’t really know his sister at all.

The catalog compares it to Dexter and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo so that’s intriguing! The MC is obsessed with studying serial killers and she secretly exacts her own vigilante justice but hasn’t killed anybody…yet. A serial killer is loose in her town and, while she tries to crack the case, she finds herself in direct contact with the serial killer and in a mess of her own lies.

I love books set in the South!! Jemma and Ryder come from neighboring families who are practically royalty. They’ve basically been set up since they’ve been born but they absolutely do not want to give in to their parents’ wishes — mostly because they hate each other. A huge storm rolls into town and bring Jemma and Ryder together in ways they never thought.

The MC finds out her boyfriend was cheating on her and takes a summer job away from her town and winds up working at the Renaissance but romance complicates things even there. Looks like a cute and fun romance!

This looks super cute! Tia just wants to have fun her senior year, no commitments, so she turns down the cute new guy she started to hit it off with. Things get awkward and Tia reconsiders her feelings after she and Will, now with a girlfriend, get nominated as Biggest Flirts for yearbook and sparks start to fly again.

Which ones are you most excited for?? Did you discover any from my list you’ve never heard of? Any other Spring/Summer 2014 releases from Simon & Schuster that may have flown off my radar?

Catalog Creepin’ is a feature here at The Perpetual Page-Turner that was inspired by the “Books to Pine For” feature over at Kristi’s blog and really fueled by my obsession with scouring catalogs from my favorite publishers to see what upcoming books I should be adding to my already-ready-to-topple-over To Be Read list. Each Catalog Creepin’ post will spotlight a different catalog from my favorite publishers and their imprints. I won’t be covering all publishers — just my personal favorites whether they be the big honchos or smaller publishing houses.

I’m REALLY excited for the upcoming Hachette books (Little Brown, Grand Central) — YA and adult! Apparently Hachette also bought Hyperion but I’m not clear on that sooo I’m going to not include it under Hachette for now until I figure out if it was just the adult that was bought or the children’s side as well.

Jersey loses everything in a powerful tornado — her family and her home — and she is sent to live with biological father and grandparents as she comes to terms with her grief. THIS SOUNDS SO GOOD. Love the family dynamics to be explored plus you know I’m a sucker for books dealing with grief.

I liked By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Dead by Julie Ann Peters and I think that this one sounds great! Alix’s girlfriend dies suddenly and as Alix clings to all the mementos she finds out that her girlfriend has text messages from someone else she appeared to be dating at the same time. Alix pretends to be her girlfriend, through texts, to find out more information before she breaks the news.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book featuring a teen runaway but this will be the first! He lives in a treehouse and surfs and generally has no plans until a PI tries to get his help in finding someone who doesn’t want to be found on the streets — a beautiful girl named Reese Abernathy. I CANNOT WAIT. This sounds so good and I kind of love the cover.

This one looks a cute romance with some travel but dealing with a hard situation — the main character’s dad is going blind. They take a trip to Machu Picchu so that excites me! I don’t quite understand, from what I read out of the Frankfurt 2013 rights guide, how the romance factors in on this trip but I will update when we get a summary!

YES. I am obsessed with the show Nashville and pshh I love T Swift. No shame in my game. Plus I like to “brag” that I saw her when her first album came out in a tiny venue here. SO HIPSTER OF ME. Anyways, a contemporary series revolving around a young country music star a la T. Swift. COUNT ME IN. Please.

I really loved The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight so I’m really excited for this. If you like cute romances, you need to check out Jennifer E. Smith. The premise of this looks awesome — a guy and a girl meet in a blackout when they are stuck in an elevator, they hang out all night after they are rescued but then they both go their separate ways across the globe but keep in contact.

YES YES YES. Sleepaway camp. I wanted more of this. I didn’t read the first book in the Whispering Pines series (probably will now) but it seems this can stand alone but does feature some of the same characters. The MC in this one gets sent to Whispering Pines because her dad thinks she’s a spoiled brat in need of a reality check! This cover makes me miss summer already!

This one is a murder mystery set in San Francisco in 1876 — a summer of a crazy heatwave and smallpox epidemic. A young woman is murdered and her friend, a burlesque dancer, tries to bring her killer to justice. This one sounds so good!

This one looks like a tearjerker! The MC has found out that she has pancreatic cancer and she wishes to use her matchmaking skills, she’s matched 54 couples successfully, before she leaves her loved ones. She gets to work on finding love for her husband, her lover and her daughter who is already engaged but to the wrong person.

I love reading about ex-pats so I’m excited for this one as a family has moved around because of the husband’s career and everyone in the family has adjusted differently to all the moving and then in a wake of a tragedy. Sounds like an interesting story about family and about sisterhood as the two children of the family use each other as their only stability.

I love friendship novels so this one is a definite on my list — ever since they were in their 20’s, four friends would spend a week at the beach together. One of the girls tragically dies and the remaining three drift further apart until years later when they are reunited.

The Girl With All The Gifts M.R. Carey (March 27, 2014 – Orbit- Add To Goodreads)

I honestly don’t know EXACTLY what this is about but the catalog says, “The Girl With All the Gifts is a terrifying, heartbreaking, genre-defying thriller about hope and humanity and a little girl who tries to save the world” and that excites me. Then it says it’s perfect for fans of Stephen King, Justin Cronin and Neil Gaiman sooo there’s the cherry on top. Definitely on my list.

Which ones are you most excited for?? Did you discover any from my list you’ve never heard of? Any other Spring/Summer 2014 releases from Hachette or any of their imprints that may have flown off my radar? Little Brown For Young Readers 2014 Spring/Summer catalog is especially exciting to me this season!